New Optional Practical Training (OPT) Rules for F-1 Students updated to reflect the interim final rule that was published on April 8, 2008.

On April 3, 2008, The Department of Homeland Security announced the publication of an Interim Final Rule that makes significant changes to Post-Completion Optional Practical Training for F-1 students.

This rule took effect upon publication of the rule in the U.S. Government’s Federal Register of April 8, 2008.

Highlights of the New Rule:

• The current 12-month limit on OPT will be extended by 17 months, for a total of 29 months for certain STEM degree holders ( S cience, T echnology, E ngineering & M athematics) ONLY And E-Verify participating employers
• The H-1B “Cap Gap” is eliminated by extending OPT employment and status for those who are beneficiaries of an H-1B petition with an October 1 start date (available to ALL OPT participants)
• The filing deadline for initial OPT applications is changed  (applies to all OPT participants). Under the new rule, a student will be able to file the OPT application up to 90 days before the degree completion date, and up to 60 days after the degree completion date.
• There are new reporting requirements for students and employers (applies to all OPT participants)
• Post-Completion OPT will now be dependent on employment.  Only limited periods of unemployment will be permitted (applies to all OPT participants)

We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Haven’t posted for a while because I was away in Miami.. anyway just wanted to post a side note and see if anyone had any suggestions.. lost my I 94.. the little departure form in my passport.. contacted the Mission and they said it would cost $320 to replace!!! how can this be?? Most of the time when I leave the country they don’t even collect it.. do you think I will have problems leaving the country?? I might just take a quick trip up to Canada and see how it goes…

After meeting with my new Immigration lawyer, didn’t really like my last one it seemed like a very good option. He suggested around a 100,000 investment in a business and a million if I wanted a straight green card. As the million dollar option doesn’t seem to be possible the E2 could work. He said the E2 takes about 4 months to go through and I even have to go for an interview, not to mention he suggests I start purchasing items for the business before I even file for it. How can this make sense? I will be going into business with an owner of 2 very successful Italian Restaurants in NYC to open up a chain of Pizzerias. He is currently working on the business plan but he believes it is possible to open up the first one for the 100,000 price tag. Even though this is a big risk I have always been interested in being an entrepreneur, does anyone know any information on obtaining a Liquor license for a someone in my situation, just encase I decide to move into other areas.

As I start to come to the realization that getting an H1b is almost impossible I have been exploring the E2 investor option. I do have some money to invest but the entire E2 visa is hard to understand. Can i start my own business with the visa? I understand it is for investment but do i need American partners to do so? I currently have friends who own two major Italian restaurants in NYC, they are interested in starting a Pizza chain and I was thinking of investing around 100,000 into this new business, would this qualify me for the E2 visa? Any comments would be great…

So i get a call from ______ _____ Financial asking me to come in for an interview. I clearly have the OPT then H1B sponsorship listed on my resume, I end up driving about an hour to Connecticut and have a great one hour interview. Going over what the company does, how they set up personal financial advice to so many clients etc etc. He pretty much offers me a job right there on the spot, but wait of course when i bring up the visa he quickly says they don’t offer that and they even have a current manager who they are they trying to get one for but failed. Said did the one year OPT and would cost them 5000 to do it and a 40% chance of getting one. Not sure if these numbers are true but what anther waste of my time. Thank You so much

Email I just received regarding a job,

Hi David:
Unfortunately ——— ——– cannot hire people who don’t have
green cards or are a U.S. citizen. This is because the people that we
hire are independent contractors. I’m sorry for the inconvenience and
miscommunication.   

Found an interesting post by the Google Blog, made me think that even if I get sponsored do I even have a chance.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/what-us-immigration-policies-mean-to.html

Thanks for the speedy first comment so it has pushed me to write my second post. I actually came here in 1996 and have been here on a G1 Visa thanks to my Dad who works for the UN. I went to part of my middle school, all of High school and finally college here. Through this time i never thought it was so hard to get a visa. To most people i was just as American as they were. There is some misperceived view out there that if you live here in the US for five years then you can just stay here, how wrong this is. After visiting a immigration lawyer in November, actually a very good one here in NYC they explained all of my options and none seemed to work. We went over everything and sponsorship was my only option. My most recent decision was to now switch from this G1 to a F1 student visa and then gain the one year OPT training period. But will this one year training period really change anything. I have a feeling ill end up at the same position just one year later.

Because of privacy issues I really will not say the actual companies who initially offered me jobs but because of my need for sponsorship simply took them away. I started my job search back in September of my senior year, spending about two months applying and on first round interviews. I ended up with 12 first round interviews and three of these ended up with job offers. Once i received my offers i went to the lawyer to find out what steps needed to be taken to go through with these offers. The first being from a small internet based stock trading position. It seemed like a good job. A long paid training period, being a day trader, good commission based on profit made, young working environment and good location in Manhattan. A job I would love to take. The second from a Fortune 100 large company, position was located in jersey with a great starting pay and starting bonus. Even though the work seemed to be boring and there would be a commute the position seemed like a great place to start in a large company. The final offer coming from a small financial firm who paid commission on clients brought in and full training in financial advising, good starting role with endless possibilities. After contacting all three companies not one of them would offer me sponsorship, not one! I began to think why not but then i realized I am just one of hundreds who wanted that position so why not just pick the next person in line, why waste the effort lawyers and money on me. How sad it is but true. A college educated person who has employees willing to offer him a position who has lived here almost all of his life but is unable to because of a simple visa. Is this the free America we all think of?

This site has been created to share and explain my immigration process to the US and the search process for a job upon graduation from college. I will give a look into a process that most Americans don’t understand or see. When most people think of the current immigration issues it always comes back to the Mexican immigration and securing the boarder but these are not the only concerns out there. What about legally immigrating to this fine country? How hard is it? Everyone talks about workers coming in and taking American jobs but these are normally low paying jobs where people are worried about them coming in and undercutting American workers. This blog will explain my current situation with steps and results along the way.